Monday, August 10, 2015

Of these only three are considered "Literature &
Fiction." There are 42 biography/memoirs on the list. Poetry doesn't
appear at all.

2.The subject of an
interview I'm doing is much smarter than I am.

3. The IRS plays an instrumental composition that seems
designed to make one aware of the passage of time. It loops through with single
notes played on what seems to be an electronic piano. It sounds like David
Benoit. Occassionaly there's a sort of hint that the music is coming to an end.
But it doesn't.

4. A blog called TaxGirl.com has a post from 2010 discussing
the on-hold music in some details (that's where I got the David Benoit
reference. I've never actually listened to the easy jazz stylings of David
Benoit on purpose, and after this I probably never will (though the little
bongo solo made me laugh because it reminded me of Dr. Sheldon Cooper's epic
bongo moment on "The Big Bang Theory").

5. There are many "IRS customers."

6. Apparently there is internal IRS hold music, also. This I
learned from the comments on the TaxGirl.com post.

7. If you file married filing jointly, always make your payments
under the FIRST Social Security that appears on the return—even if it's not yours.

8. Goo Goo Clusters are made in Nashville. There are three
types: Original (introduced in 1912) that combiness milk chocolate, caremel,
peanutes, and marshmallow nougat; Premium (introduced int he early '80s) has
pecans instead of peanuts; and Peanut Butter (introduced in 1991) replaces the
nougat with peanut butter. A 72-count box of any flavor costs $95.99 (not
including shipping), but you can also buy Collector's Tins that contain an
assortment. The Collector Tins are not in stock. From April through September,
the company offers the option of a $10 "warm weather" charge for
orders shipped in insulated shippers with cold packs. googoo.com

10. The Connecticut Department of Transportation is
announcing the nighttime closure of the Scribner Avenue on-ramp to I-95
Northbound (Interchange 14) in Norwalk from 9:00pm until 6:00 am beginning
Monday, August 10, 2015, and ending by Friday, August 14, 2015.

11. Erika Dreifus is not only a generous person (on her blog
she posts a list of paying markets for writers every Monday), she is an
incredible writer. You should check out her work: http://www.erikadreifus.com/publications/

12. " Currently, an adjunct in
the College of Liberal Arts is paid about $4,000 per semester to teach a
three-credit course. The cost to a student for such a course is approximately
$3,000. If 30 students enroll in the course, the university derives $90,000
from that course alone. Deducting the adjunct’s fee of $4,000 from the total
leaves the university with $86,000 (minus a relatively small amount for the
administrative and building costs attributable to the use of the classroom).
The adjunct receives no health or retirement benefits.
If you apply the same calculations to 500 adjuncts, the results are
astounding. If each teaches but a single class of similar size (some teach two
or more), the income to the university per semester ($90,000 multiplied by 500)
is $45 million. The total cost for adjuncts ($4,000 multiplied by 500) is $2
million. That leaves the university with $43 million per semester." Read
this: Universities that rely on adjunct professors pursue profit over academic integrity by Samuel Hazo